Chapter 68

Chapter 68

The girls and I were sitting outside in the pavilion, discussing our plans after the competition. There was one day before the big decision, and though there was this sense of security, I was still worried about anything going wrong. Especially after our little argument, we had yesterday. However, I equate my feelings with the guilt lying dormant inside. His adamancy was what kept us going.

"Do you think he knows?" Bradyn asked me after I told them about the argument.

Sighing, I shrugged my shoulders. "If Cyrus does, he's doing a great job hiding it from me."

"Or he could be assuming since Jay did ask about you," Twila remarked.

Jay was such an idiot. Why would he go asking about me to Cyrus, of all people? Jay could have asked me if he wasn't avoiding contact. It's hard knowing what he was thinking or why he thought that would be smart—making Cyrus suspicious is not precisely what we should be doing, especially when he and I have no communication.

There was unnecessary stress between us when it shouldn't have been. Cyrus and I were officially going to be together. Instead of enjoying our time, we fight. This isn't the start I'd thought we'd have. The rainbows and sunshine were missing; nothing stopped me from wanting to be with him.

I groaned, not sure what to think. "All I'm sure of is he doesn't like the closeness between Jay and me," I conclude.

"Can you blame him, though? You do have a relationship sort of." Bradyn was right.

"Not that he knows that. To him, they're just friends, so he can't be that angry." Twila added.

Bradyn squinted at her. "Why not? It's another guy and a hot one at that."

Twila scoffed. "So? Autumn is allowed to have friends whether she's with him or not," Twy argued. "Whether it's a hot guy or not doesn't change the fact that he's mad she's close with a friend for all he knows."

They were both making valid points that I couldn't argue against. On the one hand, Jay was a hot guy that I was close to and his friend. Anyone would be suspicious of that since they know how their friends operate. It might have been different if Jay and I had known each other beforehand. However, Twila is right that Cyrus doesn't know about what we did. To him, Jay is strictly my friend, and he can't control who my friends are despite what he might think.

Understandably, I fucked up, and Jay might be in love with me now. There is no way to confirm this since he's not here to explain himself to me. Nor can there be any confirmation whatsoever, leaving us in limbo. How did he know I didn't reciprocate the feelings? We're they returned? My mind was all over the place to have a definite answer. Even if they were, wouldn't I still choose Cyrus? This conversation was starting to get old quickly.

Not wanting them to argue, I decided to change the subject.

"Anyway, what should we do tonight? You know, for our last grand hoorah?" I yearned for something fun—anything to stop thinking about my horrible love life.

Twila thought for a minute, not sure. "Well, our mothers are out having the time of their lives, so what do we do?"

Bradyns eyes lit up like she had the most incredible idea ever. "Why don't we have a sleepover!"

Twila and I looked at each other and laughed.

"Um, Bray, we always have sleepovers," I say, chuckling.

She rolled her eyes, standing up. "Yes, but not with the other girls."

Why was that what she was going to suggest? The thought of sleeping in the same space as Jenna upset my stomach. Sure we've hung out a few times as a group but sleeping over wasn't on my radar. Where would we even have the space for all of us to sleep? Would the other girls even agree? How does Twila feel sleeping with Sienna? I know they made up at the beach house somewhat, but was it not going to be awkward? This is weird, but how could I ever turn Bradyn down? You just can't.

"Who's asking the other girls?" I point out as Bradyn, and I look at Twila.

Twila looked between both of us before groaning. "Are you kidding me? Why do I always have to ask them?" She complained.

"Because you're good at it. I'll set up the movie theater. We can sleep in there!" Bradyn was so excited.

"The theater, why?" That didn't sound comfy to me.

"The chairs recline; it'll be fine! Now come on, we don't have much time!" She yelled. "Twila, go ask them; I'll set up the theater, and A, you go ask Jeremy to make us some snacks and drinks."

"Yes, ma'am." Twila and I both loathed it.

Nevertheless, we went off to do the jobs Bradyn assigned to us. The other girls agreed because they did, and Jeremy decided to make us some yummy snacks! In the meantime, we all went to get dressed in our best Pajamas and let our hair out. Bradyn wanted to do the classic braid train, so there's that. We all grabbed blankets and pillows, meeting in the theater. Jeremy helped me bring the snacks and drinks into the theater, leaving us afterward.

The awkwardness took over us at first. The competition was ending, and the tension was building in the air. All of us, except for two, were gunning for Cyrus' attention. There was no time to be friendly at this point. It was a little impossible because we'd spent eight weeks together. Also, Bradyn wasn't going to let us sit here menacingly. It was her idea, after all.

"Ok, apparently this thing can play music and movies," she explained.

Ocean folded her arms. "What's your point?"

Bradyn sighed. "Let's put on a show! And look, I found these." She turned the lights off, and glow sticks came, jewelry, you name it.

That piqued my interest, and everyone else's as well. To the point where we pretty much said what the hell and ran towards the box she had. We all took turns picking songs and dancing on the chairs. It got the party started for sure, and we all were having a good time. This was the perfect way to get us to relax. Bradyn somehow always knew what to do. She was good at this!

Before ending off the music portion of our night, Bradyn, Jenna, Sienna, and I decided to give Twila and Ocean a little performance. We played one of our favorite girl group songs, all lip-syncing the parts. We chose who would sing what verse and everything. Twila and Ocean were excellent audiences lip-syncing from their seats with us. The moment was fantastic, and we couldn't stop laughing afterward.

"Encore, encore!" Twila and Ocean jeered.

After our superb performance, we settled down and started the stupid braid train. Instead of sitting in a line, we just partnered up randomly. Twila was with Jenna, Bradyn with Sienna, and Ocean was my partner. For some reason, we started listing off all our best features because what else were we doing while we braided hair?

"I think it's clear that Autumn has the best hair," Sienna conquered.

Though it wasn't a feature I wanted, I kept it. Since day one, Twila and Bradyn said that my hair was amazing. That's been the story of my life everywhere I go. They weren't entirely wrong, and I'm glad Jenna acknowledged that. Usually, she would have some snide remark but not this time. She agreed!

"Jenna has the best eyes!" I yelled. Yes, I can compliment her as well.

Everyone nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they're green."

"What are the odds?" Bradyn said.

Ocean chimes in, "Bradyn has the best ass. It's so perky and round."

We all gawked at it. Bradyn did have the best one. It looked like she did squats for a living. Her body all around was spectacular, but though she had a nice ass, she didn't have as many curves as the next girl.

"Sienna has the best curves! She's like an hourglass," Jenna said.

"Twila having the longest legs known to man and Ocean having the nicest boobs," we finished our critiques.

Weirdly, we were throwing out the best features of each of us, but it was fun. The braids also came out nice on all of us. I was surprised this didn't end in turmoil. Despite the fronts we put on, we all got along great! If only we could put our differences aside, we'd be the best group of friends. All of us have great chemistry with one another. Sadly that's what happens when you compete.

Ending our night, we all picked spots to sleep. Twila picked out a movie for us to watch before we called it a night. My heart was sad that this would be the last time we all do anything fun together. Through all the drama and commotion, I'm very grateful to have met all these women. They were pillars to me finding myself these past eight weeks. This whole ordeal was going to change my life forever.